‘Loser’ tops atypical Tuesday ratings race

State of the Union preempts most programs

On a night dominated by President Obama’s State of the Union address, NBC reality show “The Biggest Loser” drew the most young adults Tuesday while a repeat of CBS drama “NCIS” was easily the most-watched program overall.

Ratings for the State of the Union will be sustained by Nielsen and will not count in nightly or season averages for the networks, but affiliate-based results show NBC’s stations leading the way among adults 18-49 from 9 to 11 p.m. with a 2.0 rating/5 share in adults while drawing 7.3 million viewers overall. Coverage on CBS stations from 9 to 10:30 p.m. led in total viewers with 8.1 million (and a 1.6/4 in 18-49), while ABC’s stations in the same 90-minute window averaged a 1.5/4 in 18-49 and 6.5 million viewers, and Fox did a 1.2/3 and 3.5 million.

The 8 o’clock hour was led in demos by NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” (3.0/9 in 18-49, 8.7 million viewers overall), up slightly vs. its two-hour installment of last week, and CBS ran second in demos and first in total viewers with a repeat of “NCIS” (2.3/7 in 18-49, 13.2 million viewers overall). Fox served up an encore episode of “Glee” (1.6/5 in 18-49, 4.7 million viewers overall), and ABC a repeat of “No Ordinary Family” (1.1/3 in 18-49, 4.4 million viewers overall).

CW, which didn’t cover the State of the Union, used the night to roll out original episodes of its new Tuesday combo of “One Tree Hill” (0.9/3 in 18-49, 1.9 million viewers overall) and “Hellcats” (0.9/2 in 18-49, 2.2 million viewers overall), which has moved over from Tuesday. Both shows were up vs. recent airings, and combined they drew the net’s largest Tuesday audience of the season (a little over 2 million viewers).